A bunch of March flowers

A selection of photos of local flowers taken during March this year.

Lesser Celandine

Winter aconite

Chickweed

Viburnum tinus

Primroses

Rosemary

Dandelion

Speedwell

Red dead nettle (Lamium purpureum)

Grape hyacinth (Muscari racemosum)

Daffodils

Vinca minor

Daisies (Bellis perennis)

Snowdrops

Crocus

Calling frogs

Spring is upon us. Male common frogs (Rana temporaria) have gathered in the pond at Pearson Park Wildlife Garden and call for females and scramble. There were plenty of males but I only saw two females in the pond and still no frogspawn. I have so many photos of the mating frogs from past years that today I decided to concentrate in trying to get the males in the moment they call. The male's white-bluish throats inflate and they tend to 'blink', which spoilt some of the photos, but I was quite pleased with a few. The call of the Common frog has been likened to a rumbling distant motorbike, but to me it sounds like a cat purring loudly, but in any case, it is only audible (to  humans anyway, I am not sure to females) within a range of a few meters, and sounds nothing like 'ribbet' at all!

North Cave Wetlands

We've finally gone on a trip out today. It feels like months indoor but the last couple of weeks have felt very spring-like. North Cave wetlands is an old sand and gravel quarry which has been managed to produce an array of different wetland habitats and is is one of the newest Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve (open to the public in 2004). There are deep lakes, shallow lagoons, little ponds, wet fields and even a maize field where different crops have been plated to attract seed eaters. The different habitats in the reserve attract a range of birds (200 species have been recorded so far, of which around 50 breed here), and butterflies (24 sp.) and damselflies and dragonflies (18 sp.).
There are three hides, one of them, the Turret hide, in placed in a beautiful vantage point from which you can have almost an all round view of the reserve, including the sandy cliff which contains a colony of Sand Martins in the summer. The hides are plastered on informative posters and ID charts on birds and other fauna.
 We saw two Rabbit feeding and their burrows are all around (also lots of Mole hills).
Today there was a large flock of noisy Black-Headed Gulls, which breed in the reserve. Great Crested grebes were courting and a Carrion Crow fed on a dead rabbit, while another rabbit (alive) fed just a meter away!

A view of Village Lake

Turret Hide

A pair of aggressive Black-Headed gulls threatening another

More information at.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. also a printable leaflet here.

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Spring feel

In the last few days the gloomy, short winter days are noticeably growing longer. Birds seem to have felt this and many species are now singing. A clump of wild primroses (Primula vulgaris) in the University grounds are now bursting with buds, and the first pale lemon colour flowers are now open. Both the latin and common name of this flower refer to how early they blossom. They are the 'first roses'.

Looking forward and looking back

Come January and I eagerly seek the first signs of spring. This has been a very cold winter so far, so my first sign of spring, the flowering of Hazel, is delayed. The Hazels in Pearson Park Wildlife Garden would normally flower on the third week of January. Look what we saw today:

Today's best catkins, tightly shut!

The fully open catkins two years ago on the same day

I don't think they are going to open in January at all this year.
The second event to come is usually the first song of the Song Thrush. A few winters this thrush has sung all through December and January. I haven't heard the first song yet.

Busy song thrush, but no singing

The third event is the Lesser Celandine flowering. This is a very unique plant. Its foliage dies out in the summer and the only surviving part of the plant is its finger-shaped thin tubers. In November, the new shoots start growing and the flowers appear in January- early February, when there are few other flowers around. Their shiny yellow flowers brighten up the dullest winter day. No signs of flowers yet. Sadly, no signs of spring to report.

Lesser Celandine flower

Patch of Lesser Celandine in March

Summer Lesser Celandine tubers (end of may 2009)

First shoots of Lesser Celandine last November

Holly Days

Female Blackbird picking a Holly berry

In the last few days I have watched a pair of woodpigeons and a Blackbird feeding on holly berries. This time of the year, Holly berries are an important source of winter food for of all British thrushes, including the Blackbird; robins, blackcap and woodpigeons also regularly feed on them. It is Holly tree defence by Mistle thrushes to feed on the berries that has the highest ecological significance. Holly berries keep very well even after strong frosts, and this makes them ideal trees for Mistle thrushes to defend. Mistle thrushes defence of the tree can be overwhelmed by flocks of hungry birds on periods of frost when the tree can provide emergency food than otherwise wouldn't exist. Berries on successfully defended trees can last until July, whereas undefended ones are already devoid of berries in January.

Holly berries

A bush or small tree, Holly can reach up 10 m of hight, it flowers in May and June and it is dioecious, which means that there are male and female trees and only female ones produce berries.

A large female Holly growing on a street in Hull

Holly male flowers and buds in early May

Hollies are pollinated by bees and bumblebees. Holly Blue butterflies also visit the flowers and in April the females of the Holly Blue can be seen laying their eggs on young shoots and buds at the tip of the branches.

Female Holly Blue laying eggs

Given that they are evergreen and well defended by their hard, spiky leafs, Holly is also used for shelter and as a good nesting tree by many birds.
Sources: Snow, B. and D. Snow (1988) Birds and Berries. T&AD Poyser, Calton.

A new wood for Hull: Wilberforce Wood

An oak sapling just planted

Today it was Tree O'clock, an attempt to beat the world record of most trees planted in one hour. We took a few oaks with us, some saplings we had grown from acorns we collected in Sherwood Forest three years ago, and some others we collected in a garden centre as part of the scheme. The day was promising, sunny sky, no wind and relatively mild. We chose to join forces with The Woodland Trust to help create a new forest in Hull, Wilberforce Wood. A few years ago the site was agricultural land with strongly boggy tendencies, according to the satellite photos by Google Earth, as it is right on the floodplain of the river Hull, in North Carr. We planted mostly Alder, a native species well suited to wet areas and that grows quickly. In all we managed to plant 1600 saplings in one hour, together with around 20 other volunteers. Many holes - filled with water to the rim - had been dug in advance so it wasn't back-breaking work, just very muddy. Many wolf spiders were active, Meadow Pipits and Goldfinches chirped and there were even some flowering buttercups to enliven the day.

A view of the site

Creeping Buttercup, Ranunculus repens

How to get there

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